Dodgers Learn Delay of Land : Baseball: L.A. spends most of day waiting out rain in Miami before Marlins complete their sweep in 13 innings, 5-4.

New Marlin owner John Henry is trying to build public support to fund a retractable-roof ballpark for his team.

For what it’s worth, Henry has the Dodgers’ support. Big time.

The Dodgers gave their strong endorsement after enduring five rain delays throughout their three-game series at Pro Player Stadium, including three infuriating delays Wednesday night during the Marlins’ 5-4 victory in 13 innings.

Play was halted for for a combined 3 hours 14 minutes Wednesday as several South Florida storms pounded the stadium that wasn’t designed with baseball in mind. The frustrated Dodgers finally were permitted to leave town when Mark Kotsay hit a one-out, bases-loaded fly ball to unoccupied center field to drive in the winning run against loser Onan Masaoka (2-4).

The Dodger outfielders were playing in because the winning run would have scored easily on a deep fly ball--and it did. Kotsay was officially credited with a run-scoring single, helping the Marlins sweep the three-game series.

The Dodgers also hurt themselves, squandering one-run leads in the ninth and 12th innings. An error by Todd Hollandsworth in the ninth helped the Marlins tie the score at 3-3, and Preston Wilson hit a solo home run--his team-leading 23rd--to tie the score at 4-4 in the 12th against right-hander Alan Mills.

The cost-cutting Marlins completed the season series 7-2 against the big-spending guests, who dropped the final three games on their six-game game trip to finish 3-3 after sweeping the Chicago Cubs. The weary Dodgers boarded their charter to return to Los Angeles after their wet-and-wasted series.

“I know the owner is trying to get them a new stadium down here, and they need one,” General Manager Kevin Malone said. “It seems like it rains every other day in August and September down here.

“I think it puts players at risk to have them stretch, play, then stop and start all the time. I just don’t think this is in the best interest of the game to play in these conditions. They really need to do something.”

His manager seconds that.

“It’s tough to go through all of that,” said Davey Johnson, who makes his off-season home near Orlando. “But that’s just South Florida during hurricane season.”

It doesn’t rain much in these parts in winter--but that’s it. The rest of the time it’s seemingly nonstop, as evidenced by the 17 rain delays and three postponements the Marlins have had this season.

Umpire crew chief Bruce Froemming was close to calling the game during the third delay, but it stopped raining minutes before he was about to send everyone home.

The Dodgers (65-74) watched impatiently as each game of the series was delayed for more than 80 minutes. Wednesday’s game was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. EDT but it was delayed 1 hour 48 minutes before the first pitch.

There were two in-game delays that increased the total wasted time in the series to 7 hours 1 minute. The Marlins (57-82) used a club-record 25 players in the 4-hour 19-minute game, including eight pitchers, and the Dodgers used 22 and seven, respectively.

But the rain was the focus--not the game.

“It’s hard,” second baseman Eric Young said. “You get ready to play and then you have to keep stopping.”

Left fielder Gary Sheffield became accustomed to delays while playing for the Marlins from 1993-98.

“You just try to get used to it as best you can,” said Sheffield, who didn’t play Wednesday. “But it’s never easy.”